HONORIS VIRTUTISQUE CAUSA
The Sepulchre of Gaius Publicius Bibulus
The monument being restored was dedicated to the plebian aedile Gaius Publicius Bibulus, whose name is indeed engraved on its base (mid-1st century BC). The inscription states that for the sake of his honor and virtue (honoris virtusque causa), by decision of the Senate and the will of the people, the magistrate was to be granted a monument to be built on public land and at public expense for himself and his descendants.
The monument is an example of distyle in antis, rarely seen in Republican-era Rome with a high podium and cell covered in travertine, and offers an extraordinary glimpse at the topography of ancient Rome on the slopes of the Capitoline Hill before the radical transformations of the Imperial age. The ruins, which had for many centuries been incorporated into the structure of a manor house, were spared from the demolition work carried out at the end of the 19th century for the construction of the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.
The monument is an example of distyle in antis, rarely seen in Republican-era Rome with a high podium and cell covered in travertine, and offers an extraordinary glimpse at the topography of ancient Rome on the slopes of the Capitoline Hill before the radical transformations of the Imperial age. The ruins, which had for many centuries been incorporated into the structure of a manor house, were spared from the demolition work carried out at the end of the 19th century for the construction of the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.
The dedicatory inscription
February 2024- The dedicatory inscription to G. B. Bibulo on the baseplate of the monument before restoration.
C(aio) POPLICIO L(uci) F(ilio) BIBULO EAD(ili) PL(ebis) HONORIS/
VIRTUTISQUE CAU{S}SA SENATUS/ CONSULTO POPULIQUE IUSSU LOCUS/ MONUMENTO QUO IPSE POSTER{E}IQUE/ EIUS INFERRENTUR PUBLICE DATUS EST
“TO GAIUS PUBLICIUS BIBULUS, SON OF LUCIUS, AEDILE OF THE PLEBS, IN RECOGNITION OF HIS VALOR AND MERITS, BY DECISION OF THE SENATE AND BY THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE, A PLOT OF LAND FOR A MONUMENT HAS BEEN GRANTED AT PUBLIC EXPENSE, SO THAT HE AND HIS DESCENDANTS MAY BE LAID TO REST THERE”.
The public inscription, a rarity in Republican-age Rome, is carved on the blocks of the side of the base that today faces the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II (Vittoriano).
It is therefore a public sepulchre, a very rare case in Rome, granted by the Senate for the personal merits of the magistrate, son of L. Publicius Bibulus, perhaps to be identified with the military tribune of the 2nd legion who had taken part, as mentioned by Titus Livius, in the battle of Cannae (216 BC).
It is therefore a public sepulchre, a very rare case in Rome, granted by the Senate for the personal merits of the magistrate, son of L. Publicius Bibulus, perhaps to be identified with the military tribune of the 2nd legion who had taken part, as mentioned by Titus Livius, in the battle of Cannae (216 BC).
The inscription of the monument, etchin of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Gli Avanzi De’ Monvmenti Sepolcrali Di Roma e Dell’Agro Romano — Rome, 1784
The Republican-era monument overshadowed by the Vittoriano
At the end of the 19th century during construction of the Monument to Vittorio EmanueleII (It.: Vittoriano), the remains of sepulchre were spared from demolition and left in its original location, just to the right of imposing construction.
